Repentance in him is no perturbation or griefe, he knoweth all things, and is ignorant of nothing. When he is said to repent that he made man, the meaning is, he determined to destroy him whom before hee had created. When hee is saide to repent of making Saul King, the meaning is, he determined to take the kingdome from him, to whom before he had assigned it, and whom he caused to be an∣nointed. So then, we haue heere in this attri∣bute, a testimony of the constancy of God.
From hence we learne, that God is vnchang∣able, infallible, faithfull, & true in al his waies, words, and works. His decrees are immutable and irreuocable, and without shew or shadow of turning. This is that which the Lord clai∣meth and challengeth to himselfe, I am the Lord: I change not: I am God, and there is none other God, there is nothing like me. My counsell shall stand, and I will do whatsoeuer I will. So the Prophet speaketh in the Psalme 105, 7, 8, 10. He is the Lord our God, his iudgements are tho∣rough all the earth: he hath alway remembred his couenant and promise that hee made to a thousand generations, and since hath confirmed it to Iacob for a Law, and to Israel for an euerlasting Coue∣nant. To this purpose the Apostle saith, The guifts and calling of God are without repentance, Rom. 11, 29. By all these places we see this truth plainly proued vnto vs, that God is vn∣changeable in his mercy and goodnes toward his Church and Children.
[Reason 1] The Reasons follow to be considered. First, he is not like vnto man, his wayes are not like mans wayes, nor his thoughts like vnto mans thoughts: but as farre as Heauen is distant from the Earth, so farre are the works of God from ours. We know by experience ye change∣able nature of man, of whom the Scripture sayth, All men are lyars, Psal. 116, 11. He is rea∣dy to say and vnsay, to affirme and deny with one breath. He is constant to day, he changeth to morrow. He loueth one day, and hateth a∣nother. The people that receiued Christ with great ioy when he rode to Ierusalem, not long after cryed out, Crucifie him, crucifie him. It is not so with God, whose mercy endureth for euer, he falsifieth not his truth, neyther altreth the thing that is gone out of his mouth, Hee giueth liberally vnto all, and reprocheth no man.
[Reason 2] Secondly, his loue and mercy to his people is not changeable as the Moone, vnconstant as the winde, floating as the sea, vncertaine as the weather, but stable as the earth that can∣not be moued out of his place, and stedfast as Mount Sion that remaineth for euer. This will plainly appeare vnto vs, if we consider the si∣militudes and comparisons whereby it is ex∣pressed. His loue is like to the Couenant of waters, & as sure as the promise that he made to Noah, that the waters should no more o∣uerflow the whole earth, as the Prophet Esay teacheth, chap. 54, 7, 8, 9.
[Reason 3] Againe, his goodnesse is as the ordinance of God, that hath set an order for Summer & Winter, for day and night, for seed-time and haruest, for cold and heat, which shall not bee changed, therefore the Lord saith by his Pro∣phet, If thou can breake my couenant of the day, and my couenant of the night, that there should not be day and night in their season, then may my co∣uenant be broken with Dauid my seruant. Ier. 31, 35, and 33, 20. Nay, his mercy is saide to bee more stable then the Mountaines; for they shall remoue, and the hils shall fall downe, but my mercy shall not depart from thee, neither shal the couenant of my peace fall away, saith the Lord, that hath cō∣passion on thee, Esay 54, 10. We see the loue of mothers is tender & full of pitty toward their children, who bare thē in her womb, brought them into the world, nourished them with her breasts, and refused no base seruice for theyr good; yet the Lord saith, Can a woman forget her childe, and not haue compassion on the sonne of her wombe? Though they forget, yet will not I for∣get thee, Esay 49, 15. Seeing therfore, that God is not like to the sonnes of men, and seeing his louing kindnesse is firmer then the waters of Noah, surer then the couenant of the day, faster then the foundation of the Mountaines, and stronger thē the loue of mothers toward their children, we may conclude, that the stablenes of his counsels are as the Pillars of the earth, that cannot be shaken, and the changeablenes of his goodnesse, as the standing Rockes that cannot be remoued.
Now let vs come to the vses of this Do∣ctrine. [Ʋse 1] First, heereby we learne, that God is to be preferred before all creatures. They are changeable and subiect to alteration, which agreeth not with the nature of God. True it is, God hath highly honoured and aduanced man aboue the rest of the works of his hands, he made him a little inferiour to the Angels, & crowned him with glory & dignity, Ps. 8, 5, he hath made him Ruler ouer the earth, & put all things in subiection vnder his feet; yet he is subiect to mutability and mortality, and must returne vnto the earth, out of which hee was taken. Great is the excellency of the heauens and the stars, yet they shall be changed & de∣liuered from the bondage of corruption, into the glorious liberty of the sonnes of God. But with God is no change, neyther any alteration with the Almighty, who remaineth one & the same for euer. This difference betweene the Creator and the creature, betweene God, and the works of God, the Prophet teacheth; Thou Lord hast in the beginning established the Earth, & the Heauens are the works of thine hands, They shall perish, but thou shalt remaine, and they all shal waxe old as doth a garment, and as a vesture shalt thou fold them vp, and they shall be changed: but thou art the same, & thy yeares shal not faile. Thus we must magnifie the Lord aboue all creatures that are weake and fraile, and acknowledge a great difference betweene the infinite and in∣comprehensible Maiesty of God, subiect to no change at all, but remaining the same for euer; and the creatures of God, subiect to vanity & misery.